In our fight to save the Bay, the litigation team just received a boost, thanks to the recent addition of CBF's first Litigation Fellow Ariel Solaski. The fellowship is designed to give the litigation team increased capacity to identify and address legal issues surrounding the Chesapeake Clean Water Blueprint—our best, and perhaps last, chance for real clean water restoration in our region.

Jon Mueller, Vice President for Litigation, welcomed Ariel on board, saying, "Ariel comes highly recommended from Vermont Law School which has been identified with having the country's premier environmental law program. We are very excited to have her as Ariel has the smarts and training to provide CBF with superior legal counsel, plus, she has the right measure of grit and humor to work well with our team."

We sat down with Ariel to ask her a few questions about what drew her to environmental causes and to CBF.

Q: What first made you interested in environmental issues?A: I spent every summer of my childhood at Watch Hill, Fire Island, a barrier island beach along the south shore of Long Island, New York. It is a federally designated National Seashore so there's very little development. The peacefulness and beauty of the undeveloped barrier beach, with the ocean on one side and the bay on the other side, is the most important place to me on earth. Then, as a young adult, I spent time in the private communities at the other end of the island that didn't have the same environmental protections. It was a very different scene and led me to realize the importance of protecting the natural environment.

Q: Why did you take this position as CBF's first Legal Fellow?A: I went to law school to study environmental law and I knew that I wanted to participate in the environmental movement using legal tools. While in law school I found that water law was what really interested and excited me the most, and I took every opportunity to be involved in water law programs and courses. The Litigation Fellowship is perfectly focused on what I want to do in my career as an environmental lawyer.

Q: What do you hope to achieve during your time at CBF?A: I hope that as the first Litigation Fellow I establish the value of this position to the litigation team and the organization as a whole. In helping contribute to CBF's mission to save the Bay, I'm particularly interested in working on land use measures that preserve natural filtration systems. Examples of this include green infrastructure to filter out stormwater and other runoff, and filtration systems that encourage source water protection to protect drinking water supplies and habitats.

DISCLAIMER

PLEASE READ OUR TERMS OF USEThe views and opinions expressed in the media, articles or comments on this site are those of the speakers or authors and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions held by CBF and the inclusion of such information does not imply endorsement by CBF. CBF is not responsible for the contents of any linked Web, or any link contained in a linked Web site, or any changes or updates to such Web sites. The inclusion of any link or comment is provided only for information purposes. CBF reserves the right to edit or remove any comments and material posted to this website and to ban users from the site without notice. Partisan, pornographic or other inappropriate content, product or service promotion, foul language or bad behavior is expressly forbidden and will be removed.